Her eyes lifted to meet mine.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing, really. I’m just…I’m really glad I made the choice that I made. You know, this morning. I’m excited, and the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m looking forward to it.” She glanced over at Ben. “Personally, I’d like to see where things go.” Her gaze strayed back to me. “But I don’t want to have sex just to keep my job.”
I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward again. I couldn’t keep the annoyance from my tone this time. “When I say there aren’t any stipulations as far as the job is concerned, I’m not blowing smoke up your ass, Addison. I appreciate your honesty, and I get that you don’t trust easily, but I fully expect you to give us the benefit of the doubt in this case.”
It was a tall order, I knew, but I needed her to give us a chance.
She swallowed again and nodded. “I’m sorry, Mr. Parker. It’s—”
“No excuses,” I stated firmly. “I want you to feel you can always be honest with me. But I need you to know that I’m true to my word. Understood?”
“Yes.” She looked rightfully scolded and perhaps a little disappointed.
“Good.” I leaned back and glanced at Ben. “Do you have any other questions?”
Because quite frankly, she’d pissed me off and I needed a few minutes to breathe before I said something I would likely regret.
*
BEN
I SHOULD’VE KNOWN THAT THIS was going to turn into a pissing match.
Granted, I was still a little stunned by how much Addison had opened up to us. I wasn’t sure if she realized it required a certain level of trust to relay such intimate details with others. I was grateful she felt comfortable enough to share.
On the other hand, it was obvious that Mr. Parker was offended by Addison’s continued implication that we would be using her for sex. I could understand his irritation, but I could also see this from her perspective.
The girl had nothing. Absolutely nothing. And here we had waltzed into her life, offering her a job while wanting to take her on as our submissive. She’d obviously had other men offer the same, only they’d had ulterior motives. We, on the other hand, simply wanted to help her and get to know her.
Plus, when it came to mixing business with pleasure…there was a line that couldn’t be crossed. Sexual harassment was a heinous thing that both women and men dealt with on a daily basis. There was no way to tell her that we weren’t looking to force her into anything. That would come with time.
And it was one of the reasons we had insisted that she made her decision prior to the interview. Had she opted not to pursue a D/s relationship with us, we wouldn’t have held it against her. We needed to know she was making those decisions independent of one another.
The one thing I’d learned about Addison in the short time I’d known her was that she was a true submissive. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had the opportunity to be with a Dom who was worthy of that, though. The ones she’d been with had obviously taken advantage of her, so I figured it would take more than a verbal guarantee for her to realize this was different.
Now was not the time for us to get into that.
“No,” I told Mr. Parker. “I don’t have any other questions.” I turned in my chair to address Addison directly. “If you accept the position, I’ll need you to be in the office early. Your hours will be from seven thirty to five thirty, Monday through Thursday. You get an hour for lunch. We only work until one on Friday. Every now and then, we’ll work on a Saturday, but that’s few and far between these days.”
“Understood.”
“I come in by eight every morning. Mr. Parker is usually here by nine. There will be times that one or both of us are out of the office on business, sometimes for days at a time. We travel quite frequently.” I nodded toward Mr. Parker. “Him more than me.”
Addison continued to watch me.
“Jordan arrives every day at seven thirty. Landon, Langston, and Luci are usually here by nine or nine thirty. If Mr. Parker and I aren’t here, you can always seek one of them out if you have questions or need anything.”
She offered another nod.
“We’ll expect absolute professionalism on your part. When you’re dealing with us or when you’re dealing with our managers and clients. We had our quarterly meeting last week, so there are a few things we’ll be following up on.”
“They told me a little about it.”
“Good. I’m going to look to Luci to train you, so you’ll be spending quite a bit of time with her for the first few days. You’re more than welcome to meet with us at any time to discuss questions you have. You’ll notice it’s rather quiet, with the exception of the construction. They’ve promised that’ll be completed by the end of the week.”
